In 1991, completely broke and with no formal training in finance,
Farkas bought a small mortgage company called Taylor, Bean
& Whitaker with $75,000 that he had
borrowed from a
friend. Within 10
years, TBW was easily processing more than 6,000 mortgages a
year, and the company became one of the nation's top mortgage lenders during
housing-bubble inflation.

Farkas manufactured phony mortgages while
looting his own company into debt.
He misappropriated nearly $38.5 million to finance a
lavish lifestyle with several homes, vintage cars, and a private
jet, the WSJ
reports.

Farkas and six co-conspirators were responsible for one of
the biggest fraud schemes to emerge from the housing crisis and
the sixth-largest bank failure in American history."It's
not a crime to have a plane," Farkas reportedly said. In this
photo, he stands in front of his private jet.American
Greed/CNBC

Farkas' trial lasted less than
three weeks and, on April 19, 2011, he was found guilty
of 14 counts of conspiracy and fraud, all the while
refusing to admit to his crime.A courtroom sketch of
Farkas and District Court Judge Leonie
Brinkema.American
Greed/CNBC

He was sentenced to 30 years in prison
by District Court
Judge Leonie Brinkema who later criticized Farkas's lack of
remorse, saying his only regret was "getting
caught." Farkas and six others were ordered to pay a
total of about $3.5 billion in restitution.

Farkas is scheduled for release
in 2041, when he will be 88 years old.